It is known to provide roofing shingles, tiles, or panels to a roof, as roofing elements, whereby a plurality of such elements, in the aggregate, when laid up on a roof as a roof covering, can provide a weatherproof, protective layer, for protecting a roofed building from weather-related intrusions.
Some such roofing elements may for example be made in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 7,118,794, having asphalt components; other such roofing elements may, for example, be comprised of synthetic roofing shingle or tile material, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,808,785; others of such roofing elements may be comprised of metal components; still others of such roofing elements may be comprised of photovoltaic elements, such as are described in U.S. patent publication U.S. 2007/0251571, the complete disclosures of all of which are herein incorporated by reference.
Other roofing elements for providing a roof covering over a roof deck may be made in accordance with U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,195,951; U.S. Pat. No. 6,355,132 and/or U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,345, the complete disclosures of which are also herein incorporated by reference. It is also known to provide ventilation in the form of a roof ridge ventilator, in accordance with disclosures such as that of U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,517 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,299,528, the complete disclosures of which are also herein incorporated by reference.
In some such instances heat-sensitive layers of roofing elements, such as layers having asphaltic components, layers having metallic components, and/or layers having photovoltaic components, when such elements are raised to undesirable temperatures by heat buildup, there can be experienced some deterioration of the roofing elements and therefore the roof covering formed therefrom, which can conceivably affect the integrity of the roof covering and/or, the life of the roof covering.
In the case of roofing elements that are comprised substantially, or at least partly, of asphaltic material, as well as in the case where shingle elements are comprised of metallic materials, or where photovoltaic materials comprise components of roofing elements, it has been found desirable to protect heat-sensitive components of roofing elements, particularly in geographic areas where roofs of buildings tend to rise to elevated temperatures, such as in southern portions of the United States, particularly during summer conditions. One such approach to protecting heat-sensitive components of roofing elements, is to apply granules to weather-exposed surfaces, to reflect away heat from sunlight and/or to provide lighter colors on top of the weather-exposed surfaces of the shingles, tiles, panels, or other roofing elements, which tend to absorb less heat from the sun and or ultraviolet rays from the sun.